


Full Color Sketches (and a History Lesson)

by ThisChairIsMyHomeNow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky shares a name with the first gay president of the United States BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES, Fluff, Historical References, Homework, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash, Pre-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisChairIsMyHomeNow/pseuds/ThisChairIsMyHomeNow
Summary: In which Steve neglects his homework to draw pictures for Bucky.





	

The grass at City Park is soft and cool and Bucky is sprawled out on his belly in it next to Steve. He has a National Geographic magazine open to page 16, same as his age, but Steve is stuck doing homework, a little behind from his most recent bout of pneumonia.

There’s a report due on a US President of Steve’s choosing, and he picked James Buchanan, because that’s Bucky’s name too, and also because most everybody else picked Washington or Lincoln, and Steve just had to be contrarian. Or maybe he thought the 15th President of the United States was feeling left out.

He leafs through a biography from the library, scanning for interesting patriotic details to write down, but he doesn’t find many, and looks a little bored quite frankly.

“Hate to break it to you,” Steve says, “But you share a name with a lousy president.”

Bucky smacks the back of Steve’s head for that one, stifling a laugh.

Bucky was much younger when he realized he shared a name with a president. It was purely coincidence, his parents explained, but he got to feeling pretty high and mighty about it for a while, bringing up the fact to folks at school sometimes - that is until he realized nobody liked President James Buchanan. Then he started to disavow the man. They had _nothing_ in common. (Truly: Bucky is well liked by just about everyone, some would even say _popular_ , not that he’d admit to it.)

Steve rubs the spot Bucky hit thoughtfully as he examines a paragraph that seems to have finally caught his attention. “Huh. He never got married.”

“So what?” Bucky asks.

“Well, all the other presidents got married, didn’t they? But he never did. It says he lived with his best friend. A fella named William. It’s just interesting, that’s all.”

Steve doggy ears the page like it matters and Bucky isn’t sure what to say to _that,_ so he just goes back to his National Geographic and tries not to dwell on it.

A few more pages and he spots an article about the Aurora Borealis.

“Hey, look at this,” he says to Steve, shoving the magazine over. The photo is black and white, and not all that impressive, so Steve doesn’t really see the big deal at first. But he reads the description and is suddenly intrigued.

“I bet if we took a train to Canada we could see it,” Steve says, already launching into a plot for adventure, as if money and time (and his health) were no hindrance. They did this sometimes, created and imagined plans just for the sake of it, but Bucky got the sense that Steve would actually go through with them if Bucky would only let him.

(Bucky gets the sense that Steve would do a lot of things if Bucky would only let him.)

“Says the best place to see it is in the Alaska Territory,” Bucky informs, pointing to a line in the article, running with their little game.

“Do they got Polar Bears in the Alaska Territory?”

“I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” Bucky jokes.

“Hey, I’m serious. We’ll go someday.”

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Better start saving now, pal. Maybe in 20 years we’ll have the money.”

“Can I have this for a second? Let’s switch.”

“Thought you had an assignment due,” Bucky reminds him.

“I’ll get to it, I _swear_ ,” Steve groans. He shuffles through his bag and pulls out his sketchbook and color pencils, and Bucky knows that determined look. When Steve gets the urge to draw, there’s no stopping him.

“Fine,” Bucky obliges, taking the Buchanan biography reluctantly. For the next hour he reads about the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and about how yes, Buchanan never got married, and some people called his friend William Rufus King his “better half”; and then there was the Utah War with the Mormons of all people. Finally Steve has a full color sketch of the Northern Lights laid out in front of them, a whole tundra landscape included, but some of the details seem wrong to Bucky.

“It’s great, Stevie,” he says anyway.

But Steve’s suspicious. “ _What_?”

“Nothing—colors look real good.”

“...but?”

“Flowers? Really?”

Steve shoves the magazine back in his face and points to a line. _Draba Fladnizensis_ , a plant known commonly as Arctic Draba.

“Oh,” Bucky concedes. “Didn’t think they could survive a place that cold.”

“Me either. Anyway, you can have this,” Steve says, offering him the sketch. Bucky takes it from him and beams at it admiringly.

“Thanks. I’ll try to keep Rebecca from eating it.” (His sister, his Ma’s miracle baby, is three and genuinely enjoys consuming paper.)

They resume their former stations: Steve with his homework in front of him, Bucky with his magazine, but that only lasts for so long before Steve is craning his neck over to look at a photo of the Grand Canyon.

“We should go there too,” he says.

“We gonna rob a bank first?” Train tickets out west ain’t cheap.

“I’m serious. You and me. We’ll go. Hey, can I see that?” he asks, and without waiting for an answer he grabs the National Geographic and reaches for his color pencils again, ignoring his already late assignment yet again.

“You know,” Bucky says, “If you flunk another grade, people might get the wrong idea about your intelligence.”

“People can think whatever they want.”

Bucky sighs in fond, exasperated, resigned sort of way.

While Steve draws, Bucky quietly writes an outline for Steve’s paper. He knows better than to write the full report - Steve is opposed to outright copying for moral reasons and probably prideful ones too. He generally hates charity and would rather take an F than let Bucky (who makes straight As easily) do all the work for him. But an outline? Maybe he’d accept that.

So it’s back to the Buchanan biography for a while. They blame Buchanan for not preventing the goddamn Civil War, which seems a tad unfair, but he’ll take this historian’s word for it. There aren’t any particularly great quotes to add. Most presidents say big inspiring things about America and freedom and democracy, but Buchanan seemed to mostly just wanna talk about how swell William Rufus King was: “He is among the best, purest, and most consistent men I have ever known.”

He thought his best friend was his better half.

Bucky turns to study Steve, who is biting his lip a little, utterly lost in his sketch of the Grand Canyon. He’s putting the finishing touches on a cactus or whatever the hell, brows furrowed in concentration and hands smudged with color. His knuckles are still busted up from a scrape he got into two weeks ago over some asshole calling Mary Stillwell a fat cow.

And Bucky thinks yeah, okay. _Fine._ Maybe he does have something in common with James Buchanan after all.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is actually an extended scene from a longer story, which you can read [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8373568/chapters/19182274) if you'd like. (They DO make it to see the Northern Lights!)
> 
> President James Buchanan really was hella in love with William Rufus King. Some people referred to King as Buchanan's "wife" and they lived together for decades until King died. STUCKY IS REAL.


End file.
